1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to information technology (IT), and more particularly, to a cross-platform test environment automatic setup method and system for use on an information platform such as a blade server, a 1U (single-unit) server, a network-linked workstation, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or the like, that is running on a particular kind of operating system, for the purpose of providing the information platform with a cross-platform test environment automatic setup capability that allows a particular test procedure to be capable of being conducted under the particular kind of operating system on the information platform.
2. Description of Related Art
An information platform, such as a blade server, a 1U (single-unit) server, a network-linked workstation, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or the like, typically requires a series of test procedures before actually put into service for the purpose of checking whether the information platform can operate normally. For example, before a blade server is put into service, it is a customary practice to perform a Bonnie test procedure on the blade server to check whether the hard disk drive system on the blade server can operate normally when being linked to a network system.
One problem of conducting a Bonnie test procedure on a blade server, however, is that different units of blade servers could be installed with different kinds of operating systems, such as Red Hat 7.3, Red Hat 8.0, Red Hat 9.0, SuSE SLES 7, United Linux 1.0, Red Hat As 2.1, and Red Hat ES 2.1, to name just a few; and when the Bonnie test procedure is conducted under a different operating system, it typically requires a preliminary setup procedure to configure the operating system for a test environment that allows the test procedure to be capable of running under that operating system.
Presently, a conventional setup method to provide a suitable test environment under a specific operating system is done manually by the test engineer to enter a set of parameters that are specific to each particular test procedure. One drawback to this practice, however, is that the manual setup procedure is quite complex and thus laborious and time-consuming. Moreover, the manually-entered settings are prone to error, which would make the test procedure unable to be conducted. For example, if the test engineer wants to perform a Bonnie test procedure to test the hard disk drive system on a 20-piece blade server, then the test engineer needs first to multiple the value of the memory capacity in the blade server by 2.5 (if the result is greater than 2 GB (gigabyte), then it is rounded to 2 GB); and the result is then used as a parameter to be entered manually into the operating system for the setup of a suitable test environment for the Bonnie test procedure. Furthermore, the test engineer needs to load some executable files and data files into specific directories of the operating system on the blade server to allow the Bonnie test procedure to be executable under the operating system. This setup procedure requires averagely 5 to 10 minutes to finish the test procedure on each piece of server module circuit board, i.e., it requires a total of 100 to 200 minutes to finish the overall test procedure on the 20-piece blade server. This length of time is considered overly long and therefore the overall test procedure is quite time-consuming and thus inefficient. Moreover, the manually-entered settings are prone to error, which would make the test procedure unable to be executed under the operating system.